Austin Mahone: Meet The New YouTube Sensation

Justin Bieber got his big start by posting his amateur musical performances on YouTube and now, another kid with stars in his eyes is looking to follow in Justin’s footsteps – Austin Mahone.

At just 16 years old, Austin is taking the Bieber track to stardom and so far, it is paying off. The Texas native inundated YouTube with his cover performances and was rewarded with a combined 72 million views and counting!

“I’ll just refresh it and it’ll be like, it’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger and it’s like wow. What is going on here?” the budding artist told Access Hollywood of watching his online traffic grow in a new interview. “It’s really weird. It trips me out a lot.”

Austin, who has a hit with his new single “Say Somethin” and is currently on tour, showed business savvy by booking himself on Skype, allowing fans — known as “Mahomies” — to purchase time with him.

“I had like, a couple of girls that like, just wouldn’t say anything — they would just like, do this the entire time,” he said, covering his mouth with his hands. “They’re like, crazy shaking. I’d just be like, ‘Alright, I’m just going to sing this song now.’”

Austin is dedicated to working hard to reach Bieber-like stardom, and has a positive outlook for the future.

“Hopefully in five years, I’ll be traveling across the world and not just in the U.S.,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be out and [will have] been to places a couple times. Hopefully I’ll have a couple albums out and hopefully I’ll have met just lots of huge people and new people and just doing different things. I’m just living life.”

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